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Press Releases

The communications office of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin provides media with timely, accurate information about the Wildflower Center. Below are recent press releases related to Center events and to staff expertise on conservation practices, native plant gardening, nature education, and native plant resources and research findings. For more information or photos beyond those on the newsroom site, please contact:

Background: The Wildflower Center’s Fall Plant Sale highlights trees during the best time for planting in Central Texas and boasts more than 300 plant species from across the state. We will have lots of bluebells for sale in honor of the centennial of Lady Bird Johnson’s birth, as well as hard-to-find natives such as box elder and Texas ebony trees, Mexican silktassel shrubs and purple clematis. More than a dozen succulents will be offered, including softleaf yucca, Chihuahuan fishhook cactus and lace cactus. Other native Texas species to consider include night blooming cereus, vines such as Lindheimer’s morning glory and crossvine, and fiddlewood, Apache plume and fragrant mistflower shrubs. No six-packs of mixed plants will be sold this fall.

For the Kids: Children can enjoy story time at The Little House 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and create eco-pots for the garden throughout the weekend.

On-site events: Experts will lead garden tours Saturday and Sunday. At 11 a.m. both days, tour the new Mollie Steves Zachry Texas Arboretum to learn about its trees; at 1 p.m., Samantha Elkinton, the Center’s horticulture staff member who oversees the Ann and O.J. Weber Butterfly Garden, guides visitors through its features both days during its 10th anniversary. And at 2 p.m. daily, tour the Center’s native plant gardens to learn more. At The Store on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m., visit with potter Mary Fulton, creator of plant-imprinted objects, and with author Robert Shaw, who signs “The Field Guide to Texas Grasses.” Shaw will speak in the Auditorium at 11 a.m. that day. On Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m., authorTodd-Michael St. Pierre signs his newest children’s books. The Store’s offerings this weekend also include salsa samples from Texas Ranger Foods Sunday afternoon.

Stop by a booth where Center expertsdescribe a native grass alternative to traditional, resource-hungry lawns. New booths from TreeHouse and TreeFolks will be on site, along with vendors such as Native American Seed and local chapters of the Native Plant Society of Texas.